Fuller Theological Seminary has been quietly buying up property in downtown Pomona in anticipation of its move east from Pasadena in 2021.

Officials say they’d rather not talk about specific properties yet, since plans are still being formed and land bought. But the project area, known to be centered at Holt and Garey avenues, is becoming clearer based on records of real-estate transactions. More on that in a minute.

This vacant restaurant building in Pomona, originally a Bob’s Big Boy, was sold by a church to a seminary. (Photo by David Allen)

These buildings on Garey Avenue between Center Street and Holt Avenue have been bought by Fuller Seminary. (Photo by David Allen)

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This 1930 building at 154 W. Holt Ave. in Pomona has been bought by Fuller Seminary. (Photo by David Allen)

This 1962 Crocker Bank building at Garey and Holt avenues in Pomona was bought by Fuller Seminary for $2.55 million for its future campus. (Photo by David Allen)

I’m not sure which was more surprising: that a vacant Bob’s Big Boy was owned by the former First Baptist Church or that what may be the world’s best-known religious training school, which educates in 110 denominations, is buying it.

Holy or not, Purpose Church was interested in the ground — specifically, the asphalt.

“We bought it about 10 years ago when it came on the market,” chief of operations Pamela Barden told me. “The interest was to preserve the parking.”

The lot’s 90 spaces have served as overflow parking for the church, which takes up the entire block immediately to the east. The restaurant ceased being a Bob’s in 1995 and the last tenant, a Chinese buffet, shut down about the same time the church bought the property.

As announced in May, Fuller intends to relocate in three years to Pomona, bringing 70 faculty, 150 administrative staff and 1,200 students. The 13-acre Pasadena campus, which gradually took over a mix of buildings as the school grew, has been put up for sale.

The goal, according to officials of the seminary founded in 1947, is to build a modern, more accessible campus in a city with lower housing costs for students.

In turn, Pomona will be able to tout the presence of a famous name alongside its signature institutions, among them Cal Poly Pomona, Fairplex and Casa Colina. (Not to mention Donahoo’s Chicken.)

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Purchase price of the Bob’s property has not become public, but according to transaction records, Fuller has spent $6.6 million to buy four other properties in the vicinity, with escrow closing in May. Anchoring the package of buildings is the former Crocker Bank on the southwest corner of Holt and Garey, for which Fuller paid $2.55 million.

The two buildings immediately to the south along Garey to the corner of Center Street have been snapped up too: an arcade at 441 N. Garey Ave., once the Sunkist Theater, for $1.25 million and the office building at 411 N. Garey for $1.4 million.

The long 100 block of West Holt from Garey to Main Street, south side, consists of a half-dozen properties. One building in mid-block, 154 W. Holt, the former St. Charles Grill, has been bought for $1.4 million. A city-owned parking lot backs up to these properties to complete the square block.

Fuller spokesman Britt Vaughan said the school isn’t ready to disclose its purchases or its anticipated footprint. “Fairly soon the area will be public knowledge, but not necessarily what the spaces will be used for,” Vaughan told me by phone, explaining that a master plan is underway that will determine how best to use the space.

“Discussing exact locations at this point is premature from our point of view because purchases are not finalized. We want to be considerate to our Pomona partners and our new neighbors by giving careful thought to how we can integrate into the city over the next three years,” Vaughan wrote in a follow-up email.

While the other known purchases are within a square block, the Bob’s property is at Main Street on the north side of Holt. Maybe it’s an extra, like getting the burger-fries-soda combo but adding a side salad.

Escrow for the 1.1-acre property closed Tuesday, Barden said.

Under its bylaws, Purpose’s congregation had to approve the sale, which it did in a June 24 meeting. A 75 percent vote of those present was required. “We received a 98 percent affirmative vote,” Barden said.

Selling to a religious education institution must have appealed to the church and its congregants. Some church staffers attended Fuller and friendly discussions have taken place between the church and the seminary about the move.

As for what Fuller may do with the property, that’s unknown to Purpose. “We don’t know if they’re buying anything else in that block. We’re curious because it’s our new neighbors,” Barden said. “We’re pleased they’re going to make improvements in terms of some property that hasn’t been well-utilized.”

I’m fairly confident that like the church, the seminary is mainly interested in the restaurant for its land rather than its building. Although if they want to reopen it under the name Bob’s Fuller Boy, that would be awesome.

Valley Vignette

While we’re on the subject, Bob’s Big Boy had more of a presence here in its glory days than reflected in my May 16 column. Besides the locations in Alta Loma, Chino, Claremont, Diamond Bar, Ontario and Pomona that I cited, readers told me Covina had one, Pomona had a second one, on Foothill — later a Carrow’s and now Mr. D’s Diner — and Montclair had a Big Boy Jr. at the mall. He was a bigger boy than I knew.

Since 1997, David Allen has been taking up valuable newsprint and pixels at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, where he is a columnist and blogger (insidesocal.com/davidallen). Among his specialties: city council meetings, arts and culture, people, places, local history, dining and a log in a field that resembled the Loch Ness monster. The Illinois native has spent his newspaper career in California, starting in 1987 at the Santa Rosa News-Herald and continuing at the Rohnert Park-Cotati Clarion, Petaluma Argus-Courier and Victor Valley Daily Press. A resident of Claremont who roots for the St. Louis Cardinals and knows far too much about Marvel Comics, the Kinks and Frank Zappa's Inland Valley years, he is the author of two collections of columns: 'Pomona A to Z' and 'Getting Started.'